Anglers fishing from the half-mile stretch of seawall along Pass-A-Grille Way in St. Pete Beach will soon have plenty of places to dispose of discarded fishing line in an environmentally friendly way.
In an admirable move to protect seabirds, sea turtles and other marine life from entanglement in this deadly type of marine debris, City of St. Pete Beach officials have approved the installation of 14 special receptacles into which anglers can deposit their tangles of unwanted monofilament.
Nicknamed “monotubes”, parts of the containers were donated by the City of St. Petersburg and built by Tampa Bay Watch volunteers with special care to match the appealing aesthetics of this popular fishing area stretching north and south from the Merry Pier. Tampa Bay Watch has teamed with Blue Turtle Society to provide ongoing maintenance of the monotubes. Monofilament collected by Blue Turtle Society volunteers will be shipped to the Berkley Fishing Conservation Institute to be recycled or re-purposed. Installation of the new monotubes by Tampa Bay Watch and Blue Turtle Society volunteers took place in July.
Adopt a Monotube!
Help keep discarded monofilament fishing line out of Tampa Bay! Discarded fishing line can be very dangerous to birds, marine life, and even boats – it is estimated fishing line will last 400-600 years in the environment before it begins to break down. You can help by adopting a monofilament recycling tube, AKA monotube, at one of these popular fishing locations listed below. Adoption involves monitoring your tube twice a month depending on the location. Once collected the fishing line is sent to Berkley Fishing, where it is recycled into tackle boxes or other fishing equipment, and fish habitats!
Sites that need monitoring (partial): Pinellas County: Maximo Park, Bunce’s Pass, Fort De Soto Bay Pier, Tierra Verde Bridge, Merry Pier & others in Pass-A-Grille, Sunlit Cove, John Chestnut Sr. Park, Taylor Park, War Vets Park, Tom Stuart Causeway Bridge, & Walsingham Park.
Tampa Bay Watch – Want to get involved?
Visit http://www.tampbaywatch.org or contact Melinda Spall – 727.867.8166
BlueTurtleSociety – a new local environmental influence organization (EIO) working on several projects meant to encourage people to connect with and care for the natural world through technology, art, information and volunteerism.
Stephanie Cain, info@blueturtlesociety.org http://www.facebook.com/blueturtlesociety or email info@blueturtlesociety.org.